


blood will withstand the rocks

by possibilityleft



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Emotional Baggage, Family Dynamics, Family Feels, Gen, Post-Canon, working together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-21
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-16 02:01:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,123
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28823394
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/possibilityleft/pseuds/possibilityleft
Summary: After the events of season 4, Lin is working overtime to keep order in Republic City.  When Toph shows up, it's not clear whether she's here to help or hinder.
Relationships: Lin Beifong & Suyin Beifong, Lin Beifong & Suyin Beifong & Toph Beifong, Lin Beifong & Toph Beifong
Comments: 10
Kudos: 35
Collections: Chocolate Box - Round 6





	blood will withstand the rocks

**Author's Note:**

  * For [iwillalwaysknowyou](https://archiveofourown.org/users/iwillalwaysknowyou/gifts).



> Title is a Gaelic proverb.

It almost didn't register as unusual when Lin walked into her office and found Toph sitting behind her desk, looking pleased with herself. If it had been twenty years earlier (like it had been, many times), she'd have her feet up on Lin's desk with no regards for the paperwork she was covering in dirt. Now Toph would probably say that she wasn't flexible enough anymore for that.

"Chief," Lin said. She couldn't call her mom anymore, not easily. Fighting together hadn't changed that. Toph would always be the chief to her.

"Chief," Toph replied, and Lin couldn't help the small thrill in her belly that she always felt whenever her mother acknowledged her position. Toph called everyone by nicknames -- it meant something when she decided to be respectful.

"Why are you here?" Lin said. Toph yawned and stretched.

"I don't exactly keep an apartment in Republic City any longer," she said. "Figured I could just hole up in here for a while. I don't take up a lot of space."

The swamp smell was heavy in the air and Lin crossed the room to open a window. She solved the problems she could solve, one thing at a time.

"I thought you were going back to the swamp," Lin said. She was trying not to be defensive of Toph being in her space. It was hard not to fall into old patterns, to address the person she'd resented for twenty years instead of the person who was here with her. Her mother, who she loved and admired and couldn't stand. Here she was, well into her fifties and still feeling like a petulant teenager whenever she heard Toph speak.

"Yeah, I did, but then I felt an enormous metal robot stomping around in Republic City, and I thought I'd come and see what that was about. There's one thing you can say for your oldest nephew -- he's quite the inventor."

Thinking of Bataar Jr. didn't help matters. If Lin had her way, he'd be in her jail right now, relative or not. They'd be cleaning up after his mess for decades. But instead he was safe in her sister's compound, probably being babied back into the perfect son. 

Lin inhaled, exhaled. The salty swamp stench was all around her, but there was a breeze through the window. Su was in Zaofu, and Lin was halfway through writing a letter to her, which was on her desk. She hadn't been sure what to write about, so half of it was intricately detailed drawings of the rebuilding efforts, but it was progress.

"The problem," Toph said, rising from her spot behind Lin's desk slowly and carefully, "is that when I'm in the swamp, I can feel where you are, but I can't hear anything. It's like I'm trying to see a mover -- why bother? So I can tell when you're only sleeping three or four hours a night, but as to why, I can only guess."

She crossed the room to stand next to Lin at the window. Lin looked down to see Toph's tiny, gnarled bare feet next to her own armored ones. Her mother had been taller than her for so long, the pillar holding up her life and Su's life and Republic City in some ways, playing her part next to the people that Lin had known as family, not as legends.

"There's a lot to do," Lin said. She was tired, but everyone was working double or triple shifts, and she wouldn't force any of her officers to work a schedule she refused. That wouldn't be fair. "The city's a mess and the criminals who didn't evacuate think that now's the time to strike back at their rivals. The gangs are at each other's throats. There've been two drive-bys this week alone--"

Lin was falling into her patter, recounting the morning meeting like she had done for Toph for years. Her mother used to quiz her to make sure she was paying attention, or more frequently, because Toph hated the morning meeting and usually skipped it.

"The mess will still be there tomorrow," Toph said dismissively. "Crime never sleeps, but Beifongs do or we get cranky."

She grinned like she did when she thought she was being funny. Lin sighed.

"Go home," Toph said abruptly. She pointed toward the door when Lin didn't move.

"What?" Lin said.

"Take a break. I won't follow you home, so you can sleep in peace. I can take one night shift. I barely sleep anyway, one of those "benefits" of getting old."

Toph reached into her pocket and brought out a small hunk of metal that might have previously been a decoration on Lin's desk. The metal slid easily through her hands, her bending still as effortless as ever, as she shaped it into a police badge that she stuck on her shoulder.

"No one will even notice you're gone," Toph said. "See? They'll see the badge and hear Beifong and jump to orders. Go on."

Lin hesitated. She shut her eyes to think and felt a wave of tiredness wash over her. Then she felt her mother's hand on her forearm, for just a moment, gentle. It lasted only a second before her mother shoved her out of her own office and slammed the door.

"You can send Su in," Toph said through the door, and Lin thought she'd misheard her until she looked up and saw her sister standing there, trying not to look nervous.

"Hey Lin," Suyin said. "I was writing you a letter, but then I figured, well, I could come visit _you_ sometime."

Lin opened her mouth to ask who was managing Kuvira and Bataar back in Zaofu, and the rebuilding, but then, with great effort, she let the question go.

"Republic City might be a little wilder than you remember," she said instead.

"Good," Suyin said, winking.

Toph opened the door to Lin's office. "Lin is going to go home to sleep for at least eight full hours. You can help me sort this paperwork. It all sounds the same to me."

"Mom?" Suyin said, but Toph was already pulling her into the room.

"Good night," Lin said, and realized she was smiling. She let the weariness settle in on her like a warm blanket, thinking of her comfortable bed. She wasn't entirely sure that she'd return to her police station in the morning to find it in one piece, but she did know what she'd find there: Beifongs, where they belonged, together despite all odds.

And if she had to fight them to get them back out of her office, well-- after a good night's sleep, Lin was pretty sure that was a battle she could win.


End file.
